Blackburn boss Valerien Ismael praises Augustus Kargbo’s ‘perfect’ reaction

Valerien Ismael praised substitute Augustus Kargbo’s “perfect” reaction after he put his midweek mistake behind him and fired the equaliser in Blackburn’s 1-1 draw with Stoke.

Sierra Leone international Kargbo came under fire on Tuesday night after he gave the ball away against Swansea and failed to track back as the Swans scored the winning goal.

But he climbed off the bench against Stoke and made his mark on a game Rovers were losing after Million Manhoef’s deflected strike early in the second half gave the Potters the advantage.

Kargbo popped up in the 82nd minute to control brilliantly and maintain his composure before finding the bottom corner, and he also smashed an effort against the post late on as Blackburn tried to force a winner.

Ismael said the reaction was important in a game that he felt Rovers deserved to win.

The Rovers boss said: “I think it was important to show a reaction after his mistake in the last game.

“It’s always about the reaction. Mistakes happen in football, everyone makes mistakes and it’s important how is the reaction straightaway after the mistake on the pitch? And AK made the perfect reaction we expected from the football player.

“I was pleased with the reaction. He made the mistake, apologised in front of the team. We say now it’s on the pitch because it’s the best apology you can do.

“I think especially when you see the last 20 minutes, we deserved to score two goals at least. They had a couple of transition in the second half when we made mistakes but I think really at the end, we were on the front foot pushing, created big chances and the momentum was on our side.

“If you see the data in the second half, we were clearly on the front foot. That effort you put in, you expect a little bit more for your team.”

Stoke lost ground on the top two despite stretching their unbeaten run to three and Mark Robins felt his side threw the win away.

He said: “I think that whatever we did, we were sloppy so it gave them a leg up, it gave them a way back into a game they should have never been involved in. Credit to them, they smelt that we weren’t quite at it.

“We started to make some ridiculous decisions and throw the points away. Ending up coming away with one is a relief at the end of it.

“We shouldn’t be talking about that. We should be talking about a decent and professional performance. But credit to them because they’ve come back and nearly won the game.

“I’ve got to say I’m disappointed with it but, for whatever reason, conditions made it difficult.

“We weren’t in control of things with our first touch, decision making on the ball, or type of pass, weight of pass, direction of pass, final ball was missing. The detail wasn’t there on anything.”